LEDs And Lighting In Senior Living Residences

LEDs are being used more and more in senior living residences by care homes, senior living complexes and people living in their own homes.

Types of LEDs which are proving extra popular are things such as inbouw spots, which are built in LED spots, or inbouw LED spotjes.

This is because of their clear and ambient lighting style – they don’t flicker like old style fluorescent lights and they don’t take a while to light up, like some of the older style energy saving bulbs.

In addition to this, these inbouwspots LED are especially good for lighting up the dark areas such as corridors and recesses.

The use of several inbouw spots can help spread light all around a previously badly lit corridor. They are a lot better than old style fluorescent lights in these scenarios, especially for aging eyes.

HOW OUR EYES CHANGE OVER TIME

If you run an elderly care facility, you are no doubt aware of the dwindling eyesight of your residents, as they age.

As the eyes lenses become more transparent and starts to age, a person of advancing years may need up to 75% more light than they did when they were 25. An eighty year old will need six times the light that they did at that age.

Depth perception is also a problem with older eyes, as they age, which is the prime cause of so many trips and falls. These can be (partially) prevented by ensuring adequate lighting within your facility.

What you might not be aware of, is that simply adding brighter lighting is not the entire answer. Because older people become also more sensitive to the glare given off by overly bright lighting, care needs to be taken to shield the light sources, carefully, away from the field of vision.

There also needs to be an even consistency of light disseminated into the room – preferably coming from all different angles to ensure better clarity for all residents.

Because of the eye lens’ tendency to scatter light, in older eyes, a consistency is needed so that glare is not misinterpreted by the eyes as either a low spot or something else that is not there.

Daylight should be encouraged as much as possible in senior living facilities, as being the best way to help residents to see properly – as well as being cheerful in its own right.

But we know that daylight will often need a helping hand and this is where LEDs come in. LED spots inbouw, especially if used in concert with other LEDs, can help to emulate daylight efficiently.

They should be mounted at different angles and ensure an evenness of light throughout the room.

One place where a lot of accidents take place and extra lighting is definitely required is in the bathroom.

To help prevent trips and falls, any bathroom facility in a senior living complex or care home needs to be planned carefully. But do not forget the lighting, when it comes to accident prevention.

Fortunately, today there are a wide variety of inbouwspots badkamer or dimbare led spots inbouw badkamer available, which are all purpose made for the bathroom.

Although you still need an overhead light – or lights – which is on the ceiling, you also need lighting going from side to side and pointing down from any mirrors or units there are.

If there are any steps in the bathroom (although we would hope there aren’t) these will also need the correct lighting, as well as hand rails.

Another thing to think about is the colour of your bulbs – both LED or otherwise. It is sometimes wrongly assumed that LEDs do not provide a depth or warmth of colours. They can do, but pay attention to the bulb that you select.

A bulb with a colour rendering index (CRI) of 80 will help the eye better understand the colours it can see.

In addition to providing clarity and safety, LEDs can also save your facility a lot of money in energy bills every year – another great reason to switch!